Latch-out automatic rate regulator for timepieces



Oct. 11, 1960 M. L. LIBMAN 2,955,411

LATCH-OUT AUTOMATIC RATE REGULA'IOR FOR Y'IIMEPIECES Filed Sept. 1, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

MAX L. L )aMA/v Oct. 11, 1960 M. L. LIBMAN 2,955,411

LATCH-OUT AUTOMATIC RATE REGULATOR FOR TIMEPIECES Filed Sept. 1. 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

MAX L. L/BMA/v United States Patent Office 2,955,411 Patented Oct. 11, 1960 LATCH-OUT AUTOMATIC RATE REGULATOR FOR TIMEPIECES Filed Sept. 1, 1959, Ser. No. 837,497 8 Claims. (Cl. 58109) This invention relates to an automatic rate regulator for timepieces, and especially for watches, of the type which is latched out or rendered ineffective to produce a change in rate regulation when the hands are set by a large amount.

Ratereg'ulators are known which produce a change in the running rate of the timepiece whenever the hands are set either forward or backward in order to correct the running rate of the timepiece so that it will run more accurately thereafter. Automatic rate regulators are also known in which the rate regulating mechanism is not affected if a large change in hand setting is made, such as occurs when the timepiece runs down or when changing a time zone. Such a regulator is shown, for example, in Rabinow Patent No. 2,542,430, issued February 20, 1951. The known prior art devices are relatively complex, require a large number of moving parts, and are relatively bulky. In the case of a watch, or other timepieces of similar nature, it is very important that the space occupied by the rate regulator be reduced to a minimum, in order not to unduly increase the thickness of the watch.

It is a major object of the invention to provide an automatic rate regulator of the above type which is substantially two-dimensional so that it can be incorporated into a thin timepiece such as a watch without appreciably adding to the bulk or thickness thereof Another object is to produce a rate regulator which has a minimum of moving parts, which is inexpensive to manufacture and construct, is reliable in operation, and does not require close tolerances for proper operation.

It is a further object to provide an automatic rate regulator which is effective to make a rate correction only when the hands are set by a small amount, such as is normally done when the timepiece has been running fast or slow, but will make no correction when the hands are set by a large amount, for example, when the timepiece runs down or when changing time zones.

' The specific nature of the invention, as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a schematic view of a watch embodying the invention, the watch being shown in the normal running position.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same watch with the stern withdrawn into the hand-setting position;

Fig. 3 isa detail side view of the end of the bias arm, showing the arrangement of the banking pins;

Figs. 4-8 are detail views showing the mechanism in various stages of operation; and

Figs. 9 and 10 show a modification in two different stages of operation.

Referring to Fig. 1, the watch 2 to be regulated is provided with the customary stem 3, which is shown in its normal running position, that is, pressed in toward the body of the watch. In this condition, as is conventional,

the watch may be wound by rotating the stem 3 backwards and forwards between the thumb and finger. Attached to the stem is a collar 4, which is straddled by the fork-like projections 6, 7 of an arm or transfer link 8 pivoted at point 9. It will be understood that when the stem 3 is withdrawn or pulled back as shown in Fig. 2, it is then brought into engagement, by the standard and conventional watch mechanism, with the hands of the timepiece, so that in this position rotation of the stem 3 causes rotation of the hands of the timepiece, of which only the minute hand 11 is shown. The hands are pivoted for rotation about a shaft 12, which will be taken to represent the shaft attached to the minute hand, so that in ordinary operation of the timepiece this shaft revolves at the rate of once each hour. Small wheel 13 is attached to the minute hand, and it will be apparent that rotation of the stem 3 in the position of Fig. 2, to set the hands, will also cause corresponding rotation of wheel 13.

A shaft 14 is provided which is attached to the conventional fast-slow regulating mechanism, so that rotation of the shaft 14 in one direction will increase the running rate, and vice versa. Attached to the shaft 14 is a wheel 16 having very fine teeth 17 on its rim. These teeth are normally in engagement with the point 18 of rate adjusting transfer arm 19, which is pivoted at 21 to a rigid arm 22 extending from arm 8 and integral therewith. Point 18 is connected to rate arm 19 by resilient arm 20, whereby point 18 can be flexed slightly toward pivot point 21 by the force transmitted through arm 8 from the stem 3.

Also extending from arm 8 is a resilient arm 23 hearing two pins 24, 25 as best shown in Fig. 3, and which will hereafter be referred to as banking pins. The banking pins bear respectively against the upper edges 26, 27 of cruciform projections extending oppositely from rate arm 19 and integral therewith. Resilient arm 23 is normally biased toward arm 22; therefore in Fig. 1, banking pins 24 and 25 tend to hold the rate arm 19 in the position shown. The outer end of resilient arm 23 is held engaged by a trip latch 28 from clockwise rotation about pivot 9. Trip latch 28 is mounted on resilient arm 29 which is fixed to the body of the timepiece at its lower end 31 and is biased at its upper or latch end counter-clockwise, that is, it presses toward the arm 23. Stop pin 5 is provided to limit the counterclockwise motion of arm 23.

It will be seen that in the position of Fig. l, the point 18 in engagement with the fine teeth or serrations 17 keeps the rate regulator locked in a fixed position, corresponding to a certain running rate. When the time piece is running either fast or slow, and it is desired to set the hands to the correct time, the stem 3 is pulled back into the position shown in Fig. 2. This rotates arm 8 in a clockwise direction as indicated by the arrows B. It will be noted that a portion of the arm 8 is cut away at 8a to form a reduced resilient arm section. Rotation of arm 8 carries with it arm 22, and therefore moves rate arm 19 away from engagement with wheel 16 and into engagement with friction wheel 13 as shown in Fig. 2. Due to the resilience of reduced portion 8a of arm 8, this engagement is maintained with a desired constant pressure sufficient for the purpose described below. It will be noted that the lower end 32 of rate arm 19 is shaped in the form of an arc of a circle having its center at pivot point 21. As this lower end is in frictional engagement with wheel 13, it will be apparent that as the hands are being set, wheel 13 will rotate, and will therefore rotate rate arm 19 about its pivot 21. A small arrow C is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 to indicate the original angular position of wheel 13, i.e., the original position of the hands.

Assuming first that the watch is only a few minutes fast or slow, and it is therefore necessary to move the hands only a small amount in order to set them correctly, Fig. 4 shows the position of wheel 13 after this setting has been made. It will be noted that the arrow C has been moved a small distance to the left, corresponding to a correction of perhaps three minutes. The arcuate portion 32 of rate arm 19 has been carried a similar small distance with the rotation of wheel 13, and its point 18 has correspondingly been rotated a small distance to the right, the original position being shown in dotted lines at 18. When the stem is now pushed back into its original position shown in Fig. 1 (see Fig. it will be noted that the upper edge 26 previously mentioned now engages banking pin 24 before the other edge 27 engages its corresponding banking pin 25; this is due to the fact that rate arm 19 has been rotated clockwise from its original position. As arm 22 moves back toward the position of Fig. 1, the pressure of banking pin 24 on edge 26 causes the rate arm 19 to rotate counter-clockwise until edge 27 is in engagement with the other banking pin 28. Before this rotation is completed, the point 18 will engage the serrated edge 17 of wheel 16 at a point to the right of its original engagement point as shown in Fig. 5. It will now be apparent that as the stem is pressed all the way home, and arm 22 resumes its original position of Fig. 1, point 18 will be carried back to its original position, but in so doing will rotate wheel 16 in a clockwise direction, to effect a change in the running rate of the timepiece, this change being in the proper direction so that if the timepiece was previously fast, it will now be running at a slightly slower rate, and vice versa. It will be apparent that if the hands had been set in the opposite direction, wheel 16 would have been rotated in the opposite direction from that described above, since in this case banking pin 25 would have engaged edge 27 first. Of course, if the stem had been pushed back from the position of Fig. 2 without any change in the setting of the hands, then point 18 would retrace its path and engage wheel 16 at the same point as in Fig. 1, without making any correction in the rate.

The above-described operation will produce corrections for all normal setting of the timepiece, since such corrections are practically always made before the timepiece has accumulated much of an error, usually less than five minutes being tolerated by most users of watches.

There are some occasions where the hands are moved a very considerable amount, yet no change in the running rate should be made; this occurs, for example, when moving from one time zone into another, or when changing from standard to daylight savings time or vice versa, etc. Under these circumstances, it will be apparent that the hands are moved to change the setting by an hour or more, yet no change in rate regulation is required. Similarly, if the timepiece has run down, it is usually necessary to move the hands through a number of hours without changing the rate regulation. This is accomplished by the above mechanism in the following manner.

Fig. 6 shows what happens when the hands are moved more than a predetermined minimum amount, for example, five minutes. Under these circumstances, assuming wheel 13 is moving counter-clockwise, it carries edge 32 with it, until the rate arm 19 has rotated sufficiently so that cam point 36 engages the upper portion of arm 29, which as previously stated, is resilient, and pushes it sufiiciently to the right so that latch 28 is moved out of engagement with the end of resilient arm 23. It will be remembered that arm 23 is resiliently biased downward, and when the latch 28 is tripped, arm 23 therefore moves toward arm 22 until it assumes the position shown in Fig. 7, where banking pin 25 engages edge 26. Assuming that the frictional force between wheel 13 and edge 32 is sufficient so that the rate arm remains in the position shown in Fig. 7, nothing further will happen even though wheel 13 continues to rotate in the same direction as the hands are being set by a large amount. However, the moment the stem is pushed back toward the normal position shown in Fig. 1, as edge 32 becomes disengaged from wheel 13, rate arm 19 will immediately be straightened out by the previously described action of the two banking pins 24, 25 as shown in Fig. 8, and as the return action continues, it will be apparent that point 18 retraces its original path and engages serrated edge 17 without any correction being made, which is the desired operation, while the end of arm 23 is re-engaged with trip latch 28.

A preferable mode of operation is to design the arm 23 with sufiicient bias force so that the action of the banking pins overcomes the frictional engagement between wheel 13 and 32 and immediately returns the rate arm 19 to its aligned position, with both banking pins resting against the respective edges of the cruciform arms, so that thereafter continued rotation of wheel 13 has no effect on the operation of rate arm 19, and the rate arm is returned to its original position without producing any change in setting of the rate regulator. In this mode of operation, continued setting operation of the hands produces frictional sliding between wheel 13 and arcuate edge 32, but by using sufficiently abrasion-resistant materials no significant wear will occur during a reasonable lifetime of use. However, even this can be eliminated by the construction of Figs. 9 and 10.

The above-described modification requires rather careful selection of the friction between wheel 13' and arcuate edge 32 in order to provide on the one hand sufficient frictional force to operate latch 28 and on the other hand not too great frictional force so that sliding friction is possible after the latch 28' has been released. This reliance upon friction is minimized in the modification of Figs. 9 and 10, wherein a force-transmitting interposer member 36 is positioned between arcuate edge 32' and driving wheel 13. interposer 36' is flexibly supported on a thin wire 37 fixed to rate arm 19 as shown at 38. The natural resilience of wire 37 normally biases interposer 36 into the central position shown in Fig. 9. When the watch stem is pulled out into the hand setting position as shown in Fig. 2, interposer 36 is squeezed between arcuate surface 32 and the perimeter of wheel 13, and, therefore, as wheel 13' is rotated during the handsetting operation, the interposer causes the rate arm 19' to be moved in the same fashion as previously described. The interposer 36 will follow the wheel 13' for a short distance, because the rate arm is resiliently urged in the direction of wheel 13 due to the flexibility of reduced section 8a as previously described. However, as the wheel 13 continues to rotate, it will be apparent that a point will be reached where the interposer 36' in effect, slips off the surface of the wheel 13' and assumes the position shown in Fig. 10, while rate arm 19' is moved down a further short distance until arm 22 engages stop 35, at a point which still leaves a gap between arcuate surface 32' and the surface of wheel 13'. In the position shown in Fig. 10, it will be seen that interposer 36' is now ineifective to transmit force between the two elements, but only slides on the surface of wheel 13', against which it is slightly biased by the pressure of its supporting wire 37, tending to return to the central position. The parts are so proportioned that immediately prior to the point at which the interposer slips on the wheel 13, the latch 28' has been released, and arm 23 therefore is biased into contact with the rate arm to straighten it out so that no rate regulation will take place. Stop pin 5' is provided to limit the counterclockwise motion of arm 23. It will be noted that this straightening-out action is accomplished virtually without friction, because of the separation of wheel 13 and arcuate edge 32'. Wheel 1.3 in the position of Fig. 10, can thereafter be turned as much as desired, as is necessary when making a large correction, without interfering with the rate arm, as the only frictional engagement it now has. is with the side of the interposer 36', against the very'slight restoring force of wire 37. When the stem is pushed back into normal running position, it is apparent that the interposer will resume its normal central position in readiness for repetition of the abovedescribed action.

It will be apparent that the embodiments shown are only exemplary and that various modifications can be made in construction and arrangement within the scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a timepiece having -a time-display means, rate-regulator means and display-setting means movable from a normal running position to a setting position in which the time-display means can be set; automatic rate-correction means comprising a forcetransmitting arm movable with said setting means between a first position corresponding to the normal running position and a second position corresponding to the setting position of the timepiece; a pivotally rotatable setting arm mounted on said force arm and movable therewith, a rate-setting point on said setting arm normally in a first position in engagement with said rate regulating means in a predetermined pivotal orientation of said arm in the normal running position of the timepiece and movable by said movement of the force arm into a second position out of said engagement and into operative engagement with said setting means for pivotal movement away from said orientation by the setting means as the latter is being set, and banking pins having normally fixed positions with respect to said timepiece and engaged with portions of said rate arm to maintain said predetermined orientation in the normal running position of the setting means, said banking pins being located to restore said rate arm to said predetermined orientation by return movement of said force arm toward its first position, said point being proportioned to engage said rate-regulating means prior to completion of said restoring movement to produce a change in running rate of the timepiece.

2. In combination with a timepiece having time-display means, rate-regulator means and display-setting means movable from a normal running position to a setting position in which the time-display means can be set; automatic rate correction means comprising a force-transmitting arm movable with said setting means between a first position corresponding to the normal running position and a second position corresponding to the setting position of the timepiece; a pivotally rotatable rate-setting arm pivotally mounted on said force arm for rotation with respect thereto and movable therewith, a rate-setting point on said setting arm normally in a first position in engagement with said rate regulator means in a predetermined orientation of said arm in the normal running position of the timepiece and movable by said movement of the force arm into a second position out of said engagement and into operative engagement with said setting means for pivotal movement away from said orientation by the setting means as the latter is being set, a stop arm carried by said force-transmitting arm and having stop points biased toward and normally in engagement with a portion of said rate-setting arm in its first position to maintain said arm in said predetermined orientation, latch means restraining said stop arm from following said rate-setting arm into said setting poistion, and latchoperating means integral with said rate arm and movable by said pivotal motion thereof to operate said latch means to release said stop arm for motion into engagement with said rate arm to bias same toward said predetermined orientation.

3. A timepiece having time-indicating means and mechanism for driving same, a manual setting control niem ber movablerfrom a normal running position into a manual setting position for setting the timepiece to any time indication, a rate regulator, a rate adjusting transfer member having a central position and movable in two directions away from said central position, transfer link means operable by movement of said control member into its manual setting position to engage said rate adjusting transfer member with said time-indicating means in a first position for movement in either of said two directions in accordance with the direction of setting of the time-indicating means, said link means being operable by return movement of said control member to its normal running position to engage said transfer member with said rate regulator and to transfer the movement thereof due to said setting operation to said rate regulator to thereby adjust the running rate of the timepiece, and re-setting means operative on setting operation of said time-indicating means beyond a predetermined amount to re-set said transfer member, when in its first position, back to said central position to thereby prevent any change in rate regulation upon return of the transfer member to its normal running position.

4. The invention according to claim 3, said re-setting means including means to hold said transfer member in said central position despite continued setting movement of the time-indicating means.

5. In combination with a timepiece having a stem axially movable from a normal running position into a hand-setting position and rotationally movable in said last position to set the timepiece, a rate regulator, timeindicating means and a time" shaft for driving same; a drive wheel driven by said shaft; a transfer lever pivotally mounted on said timepiece and engaged at one end with said stem for axial movement therewith, said lever comprising a lever arm having a rate adjusting transfer member pivotally mounted thereon; said transfer member comprising, a integral portions thereof, an arcuate drive portion concentric with the pivotal axis of said member, a rate regulator adjusting portion, latch release actuating portions and alignment stop-engaging means; a resilient alignment arm integral with said transfer lever and extending therefrom, stop pins on said arm biased toward engagement with said stop-engaging means to orient said transfer member in a neutral position, with said regulator-adjusting portion in engagement with said rate regulator, in the normal running position of the stem, butout of engagement therewith in the setting position of the stem; the arcuate drive portion of said transfer member being engaged with said drive wheel in the handsetting position of the stem for rotational movement thereby as the stem is rotated during setting of the timepiece, to move said adjusting portion in either direction from its neutral position as the timepiece is set forward or back; said adjusting portion being returned to the neutral position by said stop pins on return movement of the stem to normal running position, and being dimensioned to engage the rate regulator during said return movement to adjust the running rate.

6. The invention according to claim 5, and latch means normally retaining said resilient arm from following said transfer member during its motion from normal running position to hand-setting position; said latch release actuating means being effective, on continued rotational movement of said drive wheel beyond a predetermined point, to release said latch means to enable said resilient arm to press said stop pins into engagement with said stopengaging means to restore said transfer member to its neutral position prior to its re-engagement with said rate regulator.

7. The invention according to claim 6, and an interposer member resiliently mounted on said transfer member and biased toward a central position between said arcuate drive portion and said drive wheel to transfer motion of said drive wheel to said arcuate drive portion latch release means prior to the disabling of said driving connection.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Heimann Nov. 4, 1958 

